Part 19 (1/1)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK

It had been ion unspoiled by ed wilderness called the Rockies I was sure I had found it Miles and in forest, innocent of ax and saw; miles and miles of fertile valleys, yet to feel the touch of plow; miles and miles of unclaimed homesteads with never the smoke of a settler's chimney! Deer and elk, sheep and bear roamed the forests, beavers preempted the valleys, trout spashed and rippled the waters of the lakes and rivers Yes, this was purely primeval, natural, uncivilized

But the old-tihbor was tenspoiled

”It's gotten so nowadays you can't see ayour neck around so up the scenery”

I recalledon as soon as a country got settled up Surely the Parson was having his little joke!

One day when I was out looking for Mr and Mrs Peg, I ran upon an old trapper

”Huh!” he said, ”won't be long till they won't be no critters atall

They ain't enough now to pay for trap-bait Game ain't what it useter be in these parts, I tell you, sonny I'ame country!”

To me, lately from the thickly settled prairies of Kansas, practically destitute of gaerated, and could not understand their point of view But I caes take place, in the twenty-five years I wandered through the country, that Parson Lah the forest, that he ht when I fell across his threshold after pushi+ng my bicycle over Bald Mountain

For even as I ra place so slowly that for some time I was unaware of it I saer animals in a day's journey At first, when I missed bands of deer or wild sheep, or some familiar bear, from their usual haunts, I assue totile elk nor even the tracks of one I was startled I ions, to verify ame had merely retreated from the more settled parts From the tops of lofty peaks, I looked down upon countless valleys with the hope that solers

The wilds were like an empty house where once had lived happy children, where there had been , but now rereat loneliness surged overcoranted that the country would always stay as I had found it, that other boys would have it to explore, and that it would thrill them even as it had thrilledtruth that few of the easily accessible spots were unspoiled, that forests were falling, that the gaone

I set out to see what could be done about it I found others as concerned as I Not only those in the immediate vicinity, but men of vision far removed from the scene It seemed that sihted ress had set aside the Yellowstone region as a national park, guaranteeing the preservation of its wonders for all tia it had by some subtle instinct sensed its irizzly bears e I recalled how scarce the beavers hen first I searched the valleys for them, and how, after the State had passed laws for their protection, they had multiplied

Here was the solution of the problem--protection; and the etting the governhted and self-interested individuals opposed and tried to thwart the building of the first transcontinental railroad, so there were persons who could see no reason for setting aside this region as a National Park, overnrazed livestock without hindrance, or who still hoped to strike rich mineral deposits in the proposed area to be reserved

Fortunately, the ress created the Rocky Mountain National Park, setting aside 400 squarethe Continental Divide, and as wild and primitive as when the Utes first hunted in it Thus the snow-capped peaks and the verdant valleys, the deep-gashed canons and the rushi+ng rivers, the age-old glaciers and the primeval forests are preserved forever fro the National Parks, the government takes into consideration that they are the property of the whole people, not just of those residing in adjacent or near territory Not only does it consider theeneration, but to posterity

With this in eneral principles of administration applicable to all parks and has adopted special policies adapted to the peculiar needs of individual parks For instance, it has found that in order to protect the visitors and insure their coulations of hotel ement and transportation facilities It has found it impossible to hold many individual concerns responsible for the enforceranting concessions to one large company equipped to render the service required Such a concern conducts its business under governovernulations The transportation coular schedule, at reasonable and approved rates Their books are audited by the governs to it

As funds are available roads and trails are developed, enabling thousands to enjoy the last frontier And it is a, how, in this short time, wild life has increased within the borders of the park

Beavers have returned, their dale along the trails to welcome wide-eyed visitors; upon the proal silhouettes against the sky

Here boys and girls of every land may explore even as I explored--and, with their trusty caame than Kit Carson ever trapped!

THE END